No network connections defined - Installing on Debian 11

[Preston L. Bannister]

Started with a new/clean install of Debian 11.5, and followed the instructions installing Proxmox, to the point:
Connect to the Proxmox VE web interface

At this point there are no longer any defined network connections. Seems my two existing network connections were disabled. Apparently NetworkManager is now disabled for all network devices. Not clear what Promox is expecting any this point.

(Going to try the other path, next: Developer Workstations with Proxmox VE and X11)

 

[Dunuin]

NetworkManager should be removed anyway, as it will screw up PVEs network config (at least it did here). Way to go would be to set up your network editing the "/etc/network/interfaces", "/etc/hosts" and "/etc/resolv.conf" files. This is also where PVE will store the network config when doing any changes in the webUI.

 

[Preston L. Bannister]

Well, NetworkManager seems to be effectively disabled, so rendered harmless.

Did edit the "/etc/network/interfaces" to make two Ethernet interfaces "dhcp", and rebooted, but no network. Missing a clue.

Currently trying the alternate path of installing Proxmox, then adding Gnome. The "/etc/network/interfaces" file just after the install looks like:

$ cat /etc/network/interfaces
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

iface enp1s0 inet manual

auto vmbr0
iface vmbr0 inet static
    address 192.168.86.10/24
    gateway 192.168.86.1
    bridge-ports enp1s0
    bridge-stp off
    bridge-fd 0

iface eno1 inet manual

iface ens6f0 inet manual

iface ens6f1 inet manual

Needed to manually create the above bridge, it would seem.

 

[Dunuin]

Needed to manually create the above bridge, it would seem.

You usually install PVE on top of an Debian without desktop environment as PVE is supposed to run headless. I guess you won't have those problems when installing it without desktop environment and Debian then won't use NetworkManager to setup your network and it would still work after installing the PVE packages.

But yes, copying the content of the config file with the bridge would be a good idea.

 

[Preston L. Bannister]

Yes, I did notice the instructions to create the bridge ... via the webUI ... which does not work well with no network.

As I had no expectation of what that should look like, and of what else might have gone wrong, punted.

 

[Dunuin]

Several network configs are listed in the wiki: https://pve.proxmox.com/wiki/Network_Configuration#_default_configuration_using_a_bridge

 

[Preston L. Bannister]

Punted on starting from a clean Debian 11.5 install, and then adding Proxmox (at least for now). Did a clean install from the Proxmox 7.3 ISO (current version), then added Gnome and various usual packages. Still on the learning curve.

(Writing this for the next guy, mostly.)

What I did not know at the start was that the file "/etc/network/interfaces" does seem to be the source of truth for defined networks with Proxmox. (Rather common is for the "truth" to be elsewhere, and any changes to the standard files would be overwritten.) With Proxmox you can modify "/etc/network/interfaces", and Proxmox will work (within limits).

Still early, but what I have at present. Box has 2x 1Gbps and 2x 10Gbps Ethernet ports, on different subnets. Getting started, you only need "vmbr0" attached to your appropriate Ethernet port.

# cat /etc/network/interfaces
# network interface settings; autogenerated
# Please do NOT modify this file directly, unless you know what
# you're doing.
#
# If you want to manage parts of the network configuration manually,
# please utilize the 'source' or 'source-directory' directives to do
# so.
# PVE will preserve these directives, but will NOT read its network
# configuration from sourced files, so do not attempt to move any of
# the PVE managed interfaces into external files!

auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

iface enp1s0 inet manual

iface eno1 inet manual

iface ens6f0 inet manual

iface ens6f1 inet manual

auto vmbr0
iface vmbr0 inet static
    address 192.168.86.10/24
    gateway 192.168.86.1
    bridge-ports eno1
    bridge-stp off
    bridge-fd 0
#lab-network

auto vmbr33
iface vmbr33 inet static
    address 10.33.10.10/16
    bridge-ports ens6f0
    bridge-stp off
    bridge-fd 0
#dp.inner0

auto vmbr32
iface vmbr32 inet static
    address 10.32.10.10/16
    bridge-ports enp1s0
    bridge-stp off
    bridge-fd 0
#cp.inner

auto vmbr34
iface vmbr34 inet static
    address 10.34.10.10/16
    bridge-ports ens6f1
    bridge-stp off
    bridge-fd 0
#dp.inner1